Gingerbread Family Projects

Last week, I sent home a project with my kinders for them to decorate a gingerbread boy or girl with their family. They had to bring them back and we decorated our hallway with them. They turned out to be absolutely adorable. You can tell they put a lot of thought and effort into their projects.

Of course I wanted to share them with you. Here are a few:

If you would like to do this project with your class, you can download the letter I sent home here. I also traced a large gingerbread stencil onto brown construction paper to send home with the letter.

Gingerbread Family Project Letter

Gingerbread Goodies

I love this time of year and I try to make it as fun as possible. This week, my kinders and I were knee-deep in our gingerbread unit. This is such a fun unit for me because we always read different versions of The Gingerbread Man/Boy story. This year, I read my kinders a different version each day and we compared the stories to see what was the same and what was different in each one. These are the perfect books to use with the Common Core standards too. My kinders loved hearing these stories and they were learning while having fun! Here are the ones we read:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like some more ideas to use for a gingerbread unit, please visit this post from last year.

Here Comes the Gingerbread Man!

 



Cyber Monday/Tuesday Sale

I am enjoying my Thanksgiving break with my family for the last day but I wanted to drop by to let you all know that I am throwing a Cyber Monday/Tuesday Sale in my TpT store. Everything in my store is 15% off! It will start tomorrow. Happy shopping everybody!

My TpT Store

Scarecrows...But Not Me!

I forgot all about posting this last week. I seem to think about posting at the most odd times now...I guess "mommy brain" is setting in!

My kinders created a scarecrow using an old Mailbox/Teacher's Helper pattern. They chose their colors to use on the scarecrow. Then we wrote about what their scarecrow looked like using describing words. We have been working on color words so they had to tell what color each part of their scarecrow was and then they had to describe their scarecrow at the end. I was very pleased with their writing since many of them knew no letter sounds at the beginning of the school year.

Turkey Talk

Well I only have 2 days of school this week and then we are off for Thanksgiving break. I am so excited to have 5 days off with my sweet M. She is growing so quickly and I can't believe she is already 6 months old! She now has 2 teeth and is chewing on everything in sight. My afternoons are now busier than ever spending time with her so I don't have as much time for blogging anymore but I do still enjoy it when I get the chance.



Just swinging! Miss M loves to be outside!

In school news, my kinders have been working on letter sounds, phoneme blending, counting to 100 by ones and tens, 2D and 3D shapes, and comparing objects by their length, weight, etc. I have a low group this year and these skills are giving them more trouble than my kinders normally have. I am hoping their little lightbulbs will start popping on after the break!

Fall Fun!

We have been working on fall this week and we will continue to work on it next week along with Thanksgiving. This is my favorite time of year and I love seeing all the leaves changing on my way to and from work.

To help my kinders understand a little better about fall we went on a fall walk. They were able to look at the way the leaves have changed and feel the crispness in the air. I am hoping this will help them be better writers since we are starting our All About Fall book next week. This is an informational book they will be writing about fall. It has 4 pages and we will do 1 page per day.

If you would like a copy of the book, head over to my TpT store to download it.

All About Fall writing book

Journeys Unit 2 Sight Word Review

As I have told you in the past, our school district adopted the Houghton Mifflin Journeys reading series last school year. In order to help my kinders learn their sight words I have been following the series and focusing on one sight word per week. At the end of each unit there is a review week. For unit 2, I created this little review sheet. It will be a couple of weeks before I use it but I am sharing it now for those of you that are ahead of me in your school year. I hope you enjoy this little freebie! Happy Friday!

Journeys Unit 2 Sight Word Review

Fabulous Fall Sale on TpT

Since I missed the 100K Facebook Followers sale on TpT a few weeks ago, I am throwing my own Fabulous Fall Sale starting tomorrow! For the next 3 days (Friday-Sunday) I will have everything in my TpT store 15% off. Just click on the link below to visit my TpT store. Happy Fall Y'all!

New TpT Products!

I know I haven't been on my blog much lately, but I am so busy with home and school right now. I hate to know how many blog posts I haven't read on some of my favorite blogs. I am still trying to get into the swing of things! Although I haven't been blogging I have been creating some new things to use with my kinders and I have posted two of them to TpT.

I created a couple of category sorting games to use with my kinders in small groups and literacy stations. The Categories Categories Pack is a set of 2 games to help kindergs practice sorting picture cards into the correct category. My kinders love playing these games now that they are in my literacy stations. The pack is $2.50.

Categories Categories Pack

I also created a Fall Ready To Go Printables Pack. This pack is just like the pack I created for May except these are fall themed and more appropriate for my kinders at this point in the school year. These are great activity sheets for morning work, independent work or even literacy and math stations. There are currently 11 sheets in the pack but I will be adding some more sheets to the pack as I create them. Each sheet is aligned with at least one Common Core standard and it is listed at the top of the page. This pack is $4.00.

Fall Ready To Go Printables Pack

Thank you to all of you for your wonderful support. I love hearing from you when you purchase or download new things from my TpT store!

Limeades for Learning - My Donors Choose Project

Happy Friday everyone! I have been so busy this year I haven't even had a chance to tell you about my current Donors Choose project to try to get an iPad in my classroom. I am currently doing the Limeades for Learning voting for my project to hopefully get it funded through Sonic. I would love it if you would take the time to vote with your email address. Each email address gets one vote per day. You can also get vote codes by making a purchase at Sonic. Each vote code is worth 2 votes and you can put in as many as you want each day.

Here is the link:
http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/teachers/view/439489/default/1071631

Please vote for my project each day if possible through Oct. 27th. Thanks everyone!

Finally I am on Blog Lovin'

Well as you all know I have been out of blogging this summer so I somehow missed when everyone went onto Blog Lovin' but thanks to the tutorial on Kickin' It In Kindergarten, I was able to sign up too! Now please click on the link below to follow me on Blog Lovin'! Thanks everybody!

Follow Me on Blog Lovin'

Miss M's Dedication

I am behind in sharing these pictures with you, but back in September we had my sweet M dedicated at our church. It was such a great service because we had our entire family there. M has 4 generations on both sides of my family and on one of my husband's. It was great to see her with her grandparents and great grandparents.

 

 

Fairy Tale Fun

This week we began working on our fairy tale unit. This is a favorite of mine because I so enjoyed hearing and reading fairy tales as a child. Now I am sharing them with Macy, even though she is still a small. She loves hearing stories and looking at the pictures in her books. My kinders are just as excited about this as I am. They love to be read to and are doing so much better answering questions about the fairy tales.

One of the fairy tales I did this week was The Little Red Hen which is my mom’s favorite. She gave me the idea to have a treat to go along with the story for my kinders. We took small honey buns and cut them into bite size pieces. After I finished I sharing the story with them, I took out the pieces and I told them I wasn’t going to be like the little red hen. I was going to share my bread with them so they each got a piece of “bread” from me. They thought this was great. They enjoyed the story so much that we acted out the story again the next day with picture cards.

Next week we are also working on fairy tales and I am bringing in a special treat to go along with The Three Little Pigs. I will share it with you after I do it with my class. Have a great rest of your week!

Donors Choose - New Project!

I just wrote a new proposal through Donors Choose for an iPad for my classroom. I am so excited and hoping it gets funded. I would love to have this technology to use in my classroom with my kinders. Many of them do not have access to these kinds of technology outside of school and there are so many wonderful and educational apps they can use. The project just went live yesterday and for the next 7 days Donors Choose is offering to match any donations I receive if the donor puts in the code: INSPIRE! I am hoping to drum up some donations so if you would like to donate a few dollars I would really appreciate it!

Here is the link to my project:
Padding Our Way Through Kindergarten

WoW! I Made It Thru 17 Days of School!

I know I have been MIA this summer, but I have been enjoying my time with my sweet baby girl. Miss M is such a blessing and my time with her has been amazing. I was able to stay home with her until she was 13 weeks old and it was great. When I had to come back to work it was very difficult for me. My mom is keeping her every day while I work but I still just had a hard time leaving her. She is doing great adjusting (lots better than this mommy!).

Now on to other news, I have been MIA since school started because I have been trying to keep up with my 28 (YES 28!!!) kinderkids. We have sooooo many! Thankfully yesterday our principal started a new kindergarten section so now I am down to 24 kinders. Not a huge relief but any help at this point is appreciated. They were just soooo talkative and we couldn’t get anything done in our classroom. I also have a lot of students who have never been to any kind of school before; only 9 of mine had been to a pre-k program. The ones who have never been to school before are having a difficult time adjusting.  Now that we have a few less kinders I am hoping that life will slow down so I can get back to blogging some.

Happy Friday everyone! Here is a picture of Miss M to leave you with a smile! She is such a happy girl!

My Week in Pictures

Well I know I am late in posting this since my kinders came back to school on Aug. 21, but I wanted to share with you how my door décor looks. I am so proud. This year I went with a fairytale theme in my classroom and I wanted you to see!

Top of the door

My door says: Learning is Magical in Kindergarten! 

Happy Friday everyone! I am off to enjoy my long weekend with my sweet baby girl. I promise to post some new pictures soon!

Back to School Sale on TpT

I know I haven't been on my blog at all this summer. I have been busy enjoying my time off with my sweet baby girl. I also haven't created anything new for my TpT store this summer, but I did want to participate in the Back to School Sale. Starting tomorrow (Aug. 18) my entire store will be 20% off but if you use the TpT code you can get a total of 28% off my items. This sale will run through Monday Aug. 19. I know I am planning to pick up some things I have had my eyes on for a while during this great sale.

My TpT Store

Thanks to Krista Walden for the cute clipart!

Hope you all have a great school year! My kinderkids start on Wednesday! Ready or not here they come!

MIA & My FANTASTIC News!

I am so sorry that I have been MIA for over a month now. Today is the first time I have been on my blog since my last post. 



As you all know I was pregnant with our first baby, a little girl and my due date was June. Well my sweet baby girl, M decided to make her appearance early on May 16th so I have been super busy as a first time mom. Miss M weighed in at 6 lbs. 4 oz. even though she was over 4 weeks early. Let's just say that I am truly in love with her. She is my heart outside of my body. Just to give you a fix of my sweet baby M, here are some of her newborn pictures. 

Fully Funded Projects on Donors Choose!!

I am so excited to announce that I had 3 projects on the Donors Choose website and they have ALL been fully funded! I was so surprised when I popped on the site and saw they had all disappeared. A local foundation (The Francis P. Bunnelle Foundation) funded all 3 of my projects along with 12 other projects in our school district. Needless to say this was very welcome news for my classroom.

One of the projects that was funded was for new crayons, pencils, and erasers to start the school year. These are supplies that many of my students come to school missing due to their economic situations at home. Through this project, all of my students will have the same supplies and be prepared to begin learning.

Just wanted to share this good news with you all! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to pop in this morning to say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. I hope you are able to enjoy a day with your families!

It is hard for me to believe that next year I will be celebrating Mother's Day as a first time mom, but this year I will spending Mother's Day with my mom and mother-in-law. I am so grateful for them!

Here is the most recent picture of my mom and me from my baby shower. I am so blessed to say that I have a wonderful mom and I am sure she will be an awesome Mimi to our baby girl! She is so excited because this will be her first grandchild.

Teachers Appreciation Week Purchases

Well I had a great time shopping during the TpT Teacher Appreciation Sale. I found some great things on sale that I have had in my wishlist for a while. Here are the things I purchased.
 

Frog Frenzy Math & Literacy Fun! Nonfiction Unit Aligned with Common Core (Deanna Jump)
This is a unit I have had in my wishlist and it is my first (but definitely not my last) purchase from Deanna. This unit fits in perfectly with our Pond Life unit we do each April.

Fall, Winter, & Spring Sentence Puzzles (Lori Rosenberg)
This is a pack of scrambled sentences for each season of the school year. I tried out a sample sheet a while back and my kinders LOVED it. These sheets have different levels from simple to more complex where the students have to unscramble the sentence and then answer the question. I have already copied 4 of these puzzles to use during the remaining weeks of school.

Insects & Lifecycles MEGA Unit for Literacy, Math & Science Centers (Kreative in Kinder)
This is another unit I have been wanting for a while. I love all the activities included in this unit and I am sure it will be perfect for my lifecycles unit we do each spring.

Patriotic Kids (Krista Walden)
Ocean Commotion (Krista Walden)
Spring Fling (Krista Walden)
I also purchased these clipart packs from Krista. I love her artwork! I have some great ideas in mind for some new products using this clipart so stay tuned!

Five For Friday

TGIF! This has been a very long week with the SC PASS statewide testing so I am very happy to see Friday! I am linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday.

1 - My wonderful hubby gave me these flowers this week just because! I love when he does sweet little things for no reason at all. Those little gestures mean the most! It has been a rather stressful week so I definitely needed something sweet to make me smile.

2 - I am currently working on organizing all of my math and ELA games and materials into tubs by the Common Core strands. I though this would help me to stay better organized for next year. I have my thematic games and activities in separate tubs but these are the games that can be used at any point during the year when I am working on a specific standard.

3 - There are only 19 school days left for us until summer break! Let's just say I am so excited!!!

4 - Since this week was Teacher Appreciation Week, our administrators brought each of the teachers in our school a Chick-fil-a biscuit for breakfast on Thursday. It was a nice surprise.

5 - One of my sweet students and his family gave me this beautiful pot of flowers for Teacher Appreciation Week. The gift was so sweet but the thought means more than I could ever express. It is always nice when a parent thinks enough of you as a teacher to say Thank You.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Happy Friday!

 

Teacher Appreciation Week

One of our school secretaries sent this to the teachers in our school and I had to share with you all since I know how hard you all work every day.

Thank you for all you do everyday to help these little ones who are trusted to us!

I hope you all found some great deals during the Teacher Appreciation sale. I will be sharing my purchases in a blog post soon.

May Currently - A Little Late!

Well it is officially Wednesday! Can I get an AMEN from my fellow teachers?! This week, SC is doing PASS statewide testing in grades 3-8. Of course, I don't have to test, but our school pulls our assistants to monitor testing so I have been by myself for over half of the day. Plus we lose our special area/related arts time because testing has run over every day so far. Needless to say, I am very ready for FRIDAY!!

Now on to other news, I am linking up with Farley for her May Currently linky party. I am sure that I am once again one of the last bloggers to link up but here goes mine!

Obviously from this Currently, my mind is on the arrival of our baby girl. I just can't wait to meet her. This summer, my bucket list is full of spending lots of time with her. She is my little miracle and I can't wait to have her here with us. She will make our little family complete. I also plan to spend some time in the pool this summer since my inlaws have just gotten their new in-ground pool installed.

Don't forget today is the last day of the TpT Teacher Appreciation sale!

My TpT store

Long Time Without a Post...

Well I have been a bad blogger lately. This is my first real post in over a week! Things have been super busy in my life and I seem to have no energy when I get home from work to do much of anything including reading blog posts or writing one myself. I guess it is the end of the school year combined with the less than 6 weeks left of this pregnancy.

This past week, my wonderful kindergarten and pre-k team teachers hosted a wonderful baby shower for me after school on Wednesday. They did a sundae theme and it was adorable. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

My family and friends also hosted a baby shower on Sunday. We got so many beautiful things at the showers. Now I just have to take everything out of boxes and washed. Needless to say I will be busy for the next few days.

A Sale is Coming!

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I am holding a 20% off sale in my TpT store. Everything is on sale for 20% off so if you have things in your wishlist you have been waiting to purchase, now is the time. Plus TpT is giving an additional 8% off with their promo code TAD13 so you can get up to 28% off all your purchases from my store! YAH!! The sale starts tomorrow and runs through Wednesday at midnight!

My TpT store

My Teachers Notebook shop is also on sale for 20% off and they are offering another 10% off all sale items so if you prefer to shop over there you will get the same discounts!

Now I am off to add some things to my shopping cart that I have had on my wishlist for a while! Happy shopping everyone!!

Tell Me Something Good

Jennifer at Rowdy in First Grade really knows when it is a good time for this linky. There is so much bad going on not only in the world, but also personally that I really need to just focus on the good right now. 

Something good at school:

• I have such a sweet, loving group of kinders this year. I have a special ed student who comes into our room for 1/2 of the school day and they are so caring and loving to him. They love to help him get down the hall and walk with him back to class. I am so proud of how caring they are. They remind me every day that there are still caring people (even if they are little) in the world.
• Our school is doing a Relay for Life fundraiser in a couple of weeks called "Camp"ing for a Cure after one of our teachers who has been battling cancer this school year. She has been a real trooper and has made it through so much - several surgeries, chemo, and radiation. I am so proud to be a small part of this effort.

Something good at home:

• The baby's nursery is coming together. My mom and I worked on it this week. The curtains have been hung, the glider is in place, and the crib bedding looks wonderful! I am so proud of how it turned out. I was a little nervous until I saw it all put together. I will post pictures soon.

So link up and "tell me something good" going on in your life!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

Here are some of the things I am loving this week:

 

I am loving that in 7 1/2 more weeks (or less) I will be holding my sweet new bundle of joy in my arms. I can't wait to see her wrapped up in pink!

I am loving that we are about to take my maternity pictures so I have been on Pinterest pinning ideas like crazy. Here are a couple of my favorites:

 

 

 

I am loving the beautiful spring weather that we have been having lately. It has made me want to be outside all of the time. We have had daily average highs between 75 and 80 degrees and it has been fabulous! Now I want to move my classroom outside to be in the sunshine!

So what are you loving this week?